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Mendis’ 176 was the series turnaround – Mathews
- Updated: August 17, 2016
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has said Kusal Mendis’ 176 in Pallekele was the performance upon which the series against Australia pivoted.
Mendis had come to the crease with Sri Lanka still 80 runs behind, and already two second-innings wickets down. But his faultless innings spurred a middle-order resurgence, and Sri Lanka posted a score of 353, on a quickly wearing track. Australia fell well short of the target of 268. Sri Lanka then won the Galle Test in under three days, and were dominant through the back end of the SSC match.
“The key point I thought was Kusal Mendis’ innings – that was the turnaround for the whole series after getting all out for 117 at Pallekele,” Mathews said. “It was a special effort by him to get us on to a winning track. From there onwards it really kicked off. The confidence levels were sky high from there. We worked very hard and actually we worked harder than the first two Tests ahead of the third Test as we were desperate to finish this 3-0.”
Despite having top-scored in each of the first two Tests, Mendis was the second-highest run-scorer in the series, surpassed by 24-year-old Dhananjaya de Silva, who collected 325 runs at an average of 65. …
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